Loretta Lynn Bio

Loretta Lynn (née Webb; born April 14, 1932) is a chart-topping, multiple-gold-album-selling American country music singer-songwriter whose work has spanned more than 50 years. She has received numerous awards and other accolades for her groundbreaking role in country music and her documentation of, and contributions to, American culture. She has also authored at least six books, most of them autobiographies. Lynn was born to coal miner Melvin "Ted" Webb and wife Clara, née Ramey, in Butcher Hollow, near Paintsville, Kentucky, USA, the second of eight children.

In January 1948, shortly before she turned 16, Loretta married Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr. (1926–1996) and soon became pregnant. She and her husband moved to Washington state. Their marriage was tumultuous; he had affairs, but she stayed with him. Their life together helped inspire the music she wrote.